I've been reading about many complaints about the Monocle of
Clarity. This is the text of my Monocle of Clarity, I hope it doesn't
differ from anyone elses.
**Unique equipment**
During your untap phase, if
bearer is ready, you can ask any
Methuselah a yes or no question.
He or she must answer truthfully.
If the question pertains to the
future, he or she must abide by
the answer if possible. Using the
monocle is not an action.
The most common trap people seem to fall into when reading this
card is that the Methuselah answering the question must answer yes
or no. No where on the card does it say the Methuselah must
answer yes or no. All the card says is that the Methuselah must
answer truthfully. There is a very big difference between answering
truthfully and answering yes or no. I've been asked many yes/no
answers that I don't know the answer to, and not just in Jyhad. (My
attempt at humor)
"If the question pertains to the
future, he or she must abide by
the answer if possible"
If you ask me, "Will you answer yes to my next question?"
I may say, "Yes" or "No" or "I don't know"
You asked me a yes/no question I gave you a truthful answer. If I
said "Yes" I must answer your next question "Yes" if I said "No" I
must answer your next question "No" If I said "I don't know" I
must answer your next question truthfully. The terms on the card
are satisfied.
This rather anal interpretations seems to make all questions about the
future futile because the Methuselah may always answer, "I don't
know." However, this isn't true because the Methuselah must
always answer truthfully. So, If I ask my prey, "If I attempt to
bleed you with Masika as my next action will you block?" This is a
future question that when answered truthfully does not leave much
room for the "I don't know" answer. The more precise your
question the more likely you are to get a "Yes" or "No" answer.
This interpretation helps keep the Monocle as an intelligence
gathering tool that has limited powers into the future. The further
one looks into the future the fuzzier the picture will be, providing we
have free wills. So the Monocle is as it should be.
RAPR...@news.delphi.com (RAPR...@DELPHI.COM) writes:
[ quoted text not captured ]
It is not a yes or no or I Don't know question. It is a yes or no question.
Answers must be yes or no. It's a black and white matter :-)
[ quoted text not captured ]>RAPR...@news.delphi.com (RAPR...@DELPHI.COM) writes:[ quoted text not captured ]
I'll ask you a "Yes/No" queston, "Am I wearing black underwear?"
You must answer truthfully. No peeking. :)
If you can't answer does the Monocle explode?
It's a black and white question ;)
RAPR...@news.delphi.com (RAPR...@DELPHI.COM) writes:
[ MoC answers don't have to be "Yes" or "No". ]
This rather anal interpretations seems to make all questions about the
future futile because the Methuselah may always answer, "I don't
know." However, this isn't true because the Methuselah must
always answer truthfully. So, If I ask my prey, "If I attempt to
bleed you with Masika as my next action will you block?" This is a
future question that when answered truthfully does not leave much
room for the "I don't know" answer. The more precise your
question the more likely you are to get a "Yes" or "No" answer.
This interpretation helps keep the Monocle as an intelligence
gathering tool that has limited powers into the future. The further
one looks into the future the fuzzier the picture will be, providing we
have free wills. So the Monocle is as it should be.
On the contrary, this interpretation makes the Monocle less than useless
as an intelligence-gathering tool. Do you really think that I would
answer anything other than "It depends" to ANY question you can possibly
think of other than utterly factual questions about the cards that I can
see?
To end my participation in this increasingly pathetic debate, here are
the house rules that our group plays with. (It turns out we have been
playing by these rules since the game came out, but now we have them
written down so outside players joining our games can't say they weren't
warned.)
o The answer to a Monocle of Clarity question must be Yes or No.
o The answerer of a Monocle of Clarity question is no longer bound by
his answer if he can demonstrate that the phrasing of the question
prevents something from occuring regardless of whether the answer was
Yes or No (i.e., the question must allow a perfect partition of future
answerer actions).
o If all players not controlling the Monocle of Clarity agree, the
Monocle of Clarity card may be removed from the game and/or shredded
after the questioner abundantly demonstrates that he is being a dick
and/or formulaically unclever.
Note that the last rule covers all possibilities regarding questions
related to events not in the game and all questions beginning with "Will
your answer...".
True MoC story: A six-player game was down to four players, each with
about 4 pool, and I was sitting across from the player with the MoC. At
his turn, he asked me if I would attempt to bleed him on my next turn.
Figuring that I could oust my prey rather easily on my next turn but
that it would be suicidal to try for two at once, I answered No. He
then proceeded to call and pass a Dramatic Upheaval, switching himself
with my prey, and blew through both of the other players. Even though
he totally tapped out doing so, I was reduced to sitting there with my
teeth in my mouth. THIS is the type of excellent play that the MoC
should always be allowed to pull off.
Happy Hacking!
--
-- Jon Ferro Einsprachigkeit ist heilbar.
> It is not a yes or no or I Don't know question. It is a yes or no question.
> Answers must be yes or no. It's a black and white matter :-)
Are you going to answer no to this question?
:-)